The hero of this series, Bill (or Bil, since two L's is only for officers) is a reluctant one. Which makes very little difference since the armed forces don't give him much choice. His relatively simple life as a farm boy ended when he was recruited to the Space Troopers - or not so much recruited as drugged and forced. Then basically his spirit is crushed and any apparent traces of intelligence destroyed.

In this, the second part of the series, a roboticdragon attacks the camp where Bill is serving as a drill instructor. The dragon is shot down and inspection reveals the words MADE IN USA written on it. A group of volunteers must then go and find out where this planet Usa is and inspect it. Bill is one of these volunteers. Note that here the word volunteer has a much more efficient meaning than the one we know, and the unwritten rule states that if anyone actually voluntarily becomes a volunteer, it's dealt with by a swift punishment.

Apart from Bill, this motley group also consists of a captain who is rarely seen not under the influence of every drug imaginable, a medical doctor and honoraryadmiral who chooses not to let such nuisances as ethics get in way of his research, a female trooper who shows quite an interest in the opposite sex, a technician with a hidden, cyberpunk-esque past and an unlucky fresh recruit who happens to break the unwritten rule on volunteering.

“Bill, The Galactic Hero On The Planet Of Robot Slaves” was released in July 1989, roughly 25 years after its predecessor, and it would appear that some of the original bitter satire was lost during these 25 years. While this novel still does convey some of Harrison’s views in a manner I wouldn’t describe as subtle, I found the first novel so much more bleakly and bitterly funny.

Nevertheless, I found this novel well worth reading. Harrison is not afraid to combine both intelligent and witty humour and jokes such as naming a race of people who inhabit the planet “the Wankkers”. I would recommend reading “Bill, The Galactic Hero” first though.